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Kepler finds 11 new planetary
systems
(Jan 27, 2012) NASA's Kepler
mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed
planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified
Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more
than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star.
The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size
from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter.
Read
more. NASA/JPL |
'Starbursts' and black holes
lead to biggest galaxies
(Jan 25, 2012) Frenetic
star-forming activity in the early Universe is linked to the most
massive galaxies in today's cosmos, new research suggests. This
"starbursting" activity when the Universe was just a few billion
years old appears to have been clamped off by the growth of supermassive
black holes. An international team gathered hints of the mysterious
"dark matter" in early galaxies to confirm the link.
Read
more. BBC |
Largest solar storm since 2005
to hit Earth Tuesday
(Jan 24, 2012) The night
before last the Sun unleashed a solar
flare, along with a generous belch of ionized matter that
is now racing toward Earth at thousands of kilometres a second.
The solar storm front from the ionized blast, called a coronal
mass ejection, should arrive this morning, according to the NOAA’s
Space Weather Prediction Center. The forecasters called the event
the strongest solar storm since 2005.
Read
more. Scientific American |
Voyager instrument cooling
after heater turned off
(Jan 22, 2012) In order
to reduce power consumption, mission managers have turned off
a heater on part of NASA's Voyager
1 spacecraft, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet
spectrometer instrument more than 23°C. It is now operating
at a temperature below minus 79°C, the coldest temperature
that the instrument has ever endured. This heater shut-off is
a step in the careful management of the diminishing electrical
power so that the Voyager spacecraft can continue to collect and
transmit data through 2025.
Read
more. NASA/JPL |
NEOShield to assess Earth defense
(Jan 21, 2012) NEOShield
is a new international project that will assess the threat posed
by near-Earth objects (NEOs)
and look at the best possible solutions for dealing with a big
asteroid or comet on a collision path with our planet. The effort
is being led from the German space agency's (DLR) Institute of
Planetary Research in Berlin, and had its kick-off meeting this
week. It will draw on expertise from across Europe, Russia and
the US.
Read
more. BBC |
Black holes may turboboost
super-civilizations
(Jan 20, 2012) Super-smart
extraterrestrials have far more than the total stellar energy
output of the entire Milky Way at their fingertips. They could
tap into the mother of all storage batteries: the supermassive
black hole in the core of our galaxy. This gravitational engine
is vastly more efficient at converting matter to energy than stellar
nuclear fusion.
Read
more. Discovery.com |
Herschel telescope revisits
cosmic classic
(Jan 18, 2012) Europe's
Herschel space telescope has produced a majestic new version of
a classic astronomical target – the Eagle
Nebula (also called M16). This dense region of gas and dust
some 6,500 light-years from Earth hosts copious numbers of bright
new stars. Radiation from these objects is sculpting the clouds
of gas and dust, producing in places great columns and curtains
of material.
Read
more. BBC |
Alien hunters: What if ET ever
phones our home?
(Jan 16, 2012) For decades
we've been sending signals – both deliberate and accidental
– into space, and listening out for alien civilizations'
broadcasts. But what is the plan if one day we were to hear something?
If we ever detect signs of intelligent alien life, the people
likely to be on the receiving end of a cosmic signal are the scientists
of SETI, aka Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This loose
band of a couple of dozen researchers around the world doggedly
listens to the cosmos in the hopes of catching alien communications.
It's often in the face of scant funding and even ridicule.
Read
more. BBC |
Russian space probe heading
down
(Jan 14, 2012) Russia's
failed Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, is about to fall back to Earth
– quite probably on Sunday. The spacecraft has been losing
altitude rapidly in recent days and will soon be pulled into the
top of the atmosphere where it will be destroyed. Phobos-Grunt
weighed some 13 metric tons at launch, but very little of this
mass should make it through to the surface.
Read
more. BBC |
Super-cool Planck mission begins
to warm
(Jan 13, 2012) One of Europe's
great astronomical ventures is coming to a close. The Planck
telescope, put in space to map the oldest light in the Universe,
has run out of the helium coolant that keeps it in full working
order. Engineers expect the observatory's systems to start to
warm from their ultra-frigid state in the coming days, blinding
one of its two instruments. Nonetheless, Planck has gathered more
than enough data since its launch in 2009 to complete its mission
goals.
Read
more. BBC |
Bubble-blowing stars seen in
the thousands by public
(Jan 13, 2012) A project
to spot the "bubbles" that young, massive stars blow in the gas
surrounding them has come up trumps, finding more than 5,000 of
the objects. That increases the known catalogue of bubbles by
more than a factor of 10. The discoveries were made by citizen
scientists studying images from the Spitzer space telescope, as
part of the Milky Way Project.
Read
more. BBC |
Smallest exoplanet is the size
of Mars
(Jan 13, 2012) The smallest
exoplanet yet found around a Sun-like star is a rocky world half
the size of Earth and almost identical in size to Mars. Although
it is too hot for life, researchers say its discovery boosts the
chances of finding other, more life-friendly planets. The newly
discovered planet, called KOI-961.03, periodically passes in front
of its parent star, causing a slight dip in its brightness detected
by NASA's Kepler space telescope.
Read
more. New Scientist |
Exoplanets are around every
star, study suggests
(Jan 12, 2012) Every star
twinkling in the night sky plays host to at least one planet,
a new study suggests. That implies there are some 10 billion Earth-sized
planets in our galaxy. Using a technique called gravitational
microlensing, an international team found a handful of exoplanets
that imply the existence of billions more.
Read
more. BBC |
Three tiny exoplanets suggest
Solar System not so special
(Jan 12, 2012) Adding to
its already long roster of firsts, NASA's Kepler spacecraft has
found the three smallest extrasolar planets ever detected –
all of them smaller than Earth, and the most diminutive no larger
than Mars. The newly discovered trio forms a miniature planetary
system orbiting a cool, dim red
dwarf called KOI-961.
Read
more. Scientific American |
'El Gordo' is largest distant
galaxy cluster ever seen
(Jan 11, 2012) The largest
distant galaxy cluster has been spotted by astronomers using a
telescope in Chile. Galaxy clusters are the largest stable structures
in our Universe. Seven billion light years away and with two million
billion times the mass of our Sun, the cluster was nicknamed "El
Gordo" – "the Fat One" in Spanish.
Read
more. BBC |
Dark matter images reveal widest
view of dark mystery
(Jan 10, 2012) Researchers
have released the biggest images yet detailing dark matter, the
mysterious substance that makes up three-quarters of the Universe's
mass. Each image, a billion light-years across, shows vast dark
matter clumps and voids scattered through the cosmos. The
team from the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope inferred the dark
matter's existence by the way it bends light.
Read
more. BBC |
Tough times for alien hunters
(Jan 9, 2012) The hunt for
signals from intelligent extraterrestrials has been in full swing
for half a century. But the effort's flagship facility recently
came to a grinding halt. A funding drive raised money from SETI
enthusiasts including former astronaut Bill Anders, sci-fi author
Larry Niven, and even Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. But it's
only enough to keep going for a few months.
Read
more. BBC |
First four exoplanets of 2012
discovered
(Jan 7, 2012) Barely has
the New Year got started and the first four exoplanets of 2012
have been spotted orbiting distant stars. All four alien worlds
are"hot Jupiters" – large gas giant planets orbiting very
close to their stars. Their orbits are aligned just right with
the Earth so that when they pass in front of their parent stars,
they slightly dim the starlight from view.
Read
more. Discovery.com |
Hundreds of tiny moons may
be orbiting Earth
(Jan 6, 2012) The Moon
may look lonely, but it is far from alone. Small asteroids too
dim to detect seem to stray into Earth's orbit quite frequently
and stay for short periods of time. We may even be able to bring
one of these moonlets back to Earth for study.
Read
more. New Scientist |
X-37B spaceplane 'spying on
China'
(Jan 5, 2012) America's
classified X-37B spaceplane is probably spying on China, according
to a report in Spaceflight magazine. The unpiloted vehicle
was launched into orbit by the US Air Force in March last year
and has yet to return to Earth. The Pentagon has steadfastly refused
to discuss its mission but amateur space trackers have noted how
its path around the globe is nearly identical to China's spacelab,
Tiangong-1.
Read
more. BBC |
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